The present application relates to construction equipment and machines equipped with telescoping boom assemblies, such as cranes, teleloaders, and the like. In particular, the present application relates to the wear pads—typically replaceable—that are positioned between the nested sections of the telescoping boom assemblies.
Wear pads typically support, in part, the weight of a section of a telescoping boom assembly relative to another section of the telescoping boom assembly. Wear pads also typically reduce the sliding friction between the various sections of the telescoping boom assembly. Further, the wear pads typically are designed to be replaceable. In other words, the wear pads are typically a relatively lower cost and more easily replaced feature of the telescoping boom assembly that reduces the wear and consequent replacement of the various sections of the telescoping boom assembly.
Presently known wear pads, however, may suffer from several deficiencies. First, telescoping boom assemblies have increased in structural sophistication from simple box/beam construction that require only flat wear pads to boom assemblies in which one or more section may have multiple segments of varying angles and/or radii of curvature. These latter boom designs typically require wear pads that are machined for a specific design of the section and, in some instances, for a specific, in-use section of a telescoping boom assembly. In other words, the proliferation of boom designs requires an equal proliferation of designs for wear pads. Therefore, the wear pads often require specific machining and adjustment of the wear pad at both the manufacturing level and at the field level when installing the wear pads.
Consequent to the proliferation of the number of designs of wear pads is the requirement to keep multiple and often uniquely sized and shaped blanks from which the wear pads are manufactured. The use of uniquely sized and shaped blanks typically costs significantly more than using off-the-shelf flats or standard shapes of blanks to manufacture a wear pad.
Thus, there is a need for a wear pad that is formed from a common blank or easily obtainable shape of material. There is also a need for a wear pad that reduces the amount of wasted raw material during the manufacturing of the wear pad. Further, there is a need for a wear pad that is easily machined for a variety of unique shapes of the various sections of a telescoping boom assembly, particularly one that is capable of conforming more easily to inconsistent or irregular contours. Finally, there is a need for a construction vehicle, particularly a crane, with a telescoping boom assembly equipped with such wear pads.